President Donald Trump’s border wall is ugly and expensive, is lately the source of a presidential tantrum in a meeting with congressional leaders — and Mexico is not paying for it.

That’s plenty to dislike about this wall, but we can’t think of a more fitting symbol of the wall’s pointless, heart-breaking ugliness than the division it will create at the pristine National Butterfly Center.

Bulldozers will soon be plowing through this preserve on the Rio Grande so a small portion of Trump’s “big, beautiful” wall can be built.

Once its up, most of the sanctuary will be on the south side of the border wall. The wall is not on the border, mind you. The property is still in the United States. This is land north of the Rio Grande, but south of the wall.

Will America be safer for this? Only if we are afraid of butterflies, but when there is a will, there is a way.

Perhaps these butterflies will fly over and around the wall, even if it is 18 feet tall. But, hint: If butterflies can get around a wall, people can, too.

This is part of 33 miles of replacement and new fencing in the Rio Grande Valley. But the fencing comes with a noticeable gap. The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge has been spared — and we’re glad to see at least that.

There are less expensive and more effective ways to secure the border than plowing through a butterfly sanctuary or disrupting the movement of wildlife. And there are ways to offer border security without disrespecting private property rights.

Instead, taxpayers are funding a border wall that is not on the border, and will cut through private property.